A Matter of Balance
by Song of the Skies
Summary: [A series of oneshots] Water is element of change, earth of substance, fire of power, and air of freedom. [A look at each element]
1. All is one

This is a series of philosophical oneshots. That being said, I have no idea when I will be updating, because I write when the ideas come. Also, don't expect romance.

Disclaimer: I don't know Avatar: The Last Airbender

Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same.

Zuko and Katara are not as different as you might think.

The differences are clear enough: Zuko is the exiled prince, the firebending failure. Katara is the lowly peasant, the waterbending master. Fire and Water. Yin and Yang.

Katara is Yin, the darker, passive, femmine side of the Taijitu. Zuko is Yang, the lighter, active, masculine side of the Taijitu. But inside Yin is Yang, and inside Yang is Yin. One cannot exist without the other, because they are complements, not opposites.

Both have pride, and both are ready to fly off the handle at a moment's notice. Both use force in their bending; Katara uses more force than traditional waterbender requires.

Everything in this world is both yin and yang, and what seems yin to one can seem like yang to another. Few understand this, that things can be separate and different while also being one and the same.

Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same.

But what Guru Pathink does not realize is this:

What works one way will also work in reverse.

Things you think are one and the same can also be separate and different, and none emphasizes this as much as the Avatar cycle.

Aang is not Roku, just as Roku is not Kyoshi. Aang may be the reincarnation of Roku, but he is not Roku. Different lives, different personalities. The same, but different. One, but separate.

Fire and Wind are classified as yang, while Water and Earth are yin. But Fire and Earth are 'hard' bending styles, with more emphasize on force, while Wind and Water are 'soft' styles, with more emphasize on moving with the opponent. The elements are one, but different and separate.

Four nations, but one world. One world, but four nations. Four elements, one Avatar. One Avatar, four elements. In another world, another time, another place, people came up with a name for this concept: All is one and one is all.

Aang doesn't understand this. He may never. However, Roku isn't actually concerned, because he knew it in a past life, and that's all that matters. What once was will come again.

Everything is connected, and everything is separate. Everything is yin, and everything is yang.

And that is Truth.


	2. Water, Earth, Fire, Air

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or the quote "Soft as water, hard as the raging flood."

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Water. Earth. Fire. Air.

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Water is the element of change. Of all the elements, it alone has the most potential, although this has been lost from current knowledge. Few realize, that used properly, it is the most powerful element.

Soft as water, hard as the raging flood.

Water is both a hard and soft element, but Katara and Master Pakku only use the hard aspect. This principle, to return force with force, developed many, many years ago, many turns of the Avatar cycle. But this was not always the case.

A long time ago, the waterbenders knew to accept blows, which would soften the impact. They would absorb the force and return it, through soft attacks that were as powerful, or even more powerful, than force attacks.

They were the ones who could turn water into mist, and moisture in the air into water. They could control their enemies by the water in their bodies, by the same principle that they healed with. They controlled the water in the veins and arteries, and could make a person submit without ever harming them.

For the most part, this skill has been lost. The waterbenders in the North Pole only practice the hard aspect, and it is not the way of the waterbenders to always return force with force. Sometimes, yes – for who can withstand the raging flood? – But not always.

Huu understands this. He knows the skill required to manipulate plants without breaking them. If he wanted to, he could best anyone if he got close enough. He doesn't, but he could. Another is Kinto, the wandering waterbender from the North Pole. His methods are unorthodox: by freezing the water in an enemy's stomach and causing pain, but he understands the principle. Two, out of the entire mortal realm.

Katara will never understand this principle. After the Fire Nation attack on her home, it is not in her nature. She knows to return force with force, and that is all she will ever know. This is why the Northern Water Tribe has survived so long, by resisting and withstanding the Fire Nation attacks, like a mountain. But will not a mountain crumble into the sea? They would have fallen if the Avatar had not been there.

There are times when the raging flood is needed. But it is water that will endure when all else is gone.

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Earth is the element of substance.

The mountains may crumble into the sea, but it will not be in your lifetime, or your great grandchildren's. They were here long before you were born, and they will be here long after you have gone. So it is with the Earth Kingdom.

For almost a century, the Earth Kingdom has survived by defending, and defending only. It has defended only because the people of the Earth Kingdom thought that the Fire Nation attack would run out of steam. Who would carry on a war for a hundred years?

Earth is patient. It can, and will, wait. That is where the power of earthbending comes from. It endures, and if not forever, then for far longer than anyone is alive. It does not attack, but waits for the enemy to wear itself out.

And so the Earth Kingdom did nothing. Whole areas began falling to the Fire Nation, but Ba Sing Se was safe, and if Ba Sing Se was safe, then the Earth Kingdom was safe. If Ba Sing Se never fell, then the Earth Kingdom would never fall. And if things had continued like they had, then Ba Sing Se would never fall. Fire will eventually burn itself out.

What Azula did was the equivalent of leveling the mountain with dynamite. Few things can withstand dynamite.

And so the mountain that was Ba Sing Se fell, and with it the Earth Kingdom. No matter. This too will pass. The Earth Kingdom will rise again. Such is the nature of the Earth.

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Fire is the element of power.

Fire can be put out with water, extinguished with earth, blown out with air. What people don't tend to think about is that fire grows stronger on these elements with they are small enough. It feeds on air and coal, and it grows strong on water.

The Water Tribe offered no resistance to the war when it was started, and it was only recently that anyone joined the war at all. This is what the Air Nomads would have done, if they had a choice. The Earth Kingdom offered resistance, but there was no counter attack. So the Fire Nation flourished. They had the raw materials they had started the war for, and no one stopped them. The flames grew higher and higher, and soon no gust of wind could blow them out, no sand could snuff them out, and no bucket of water would stop them.

But the people of the Fire Nation were like their element: proud and hungry. They had gotten what they had started the war for, but they were hungry for more power, and this will be their downfall. Soon there will be nothing left, and flames can't spread if there is nothing to burn.

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Air is the element of freedom.

The Air Nomads detached themselves from the world to listen to the wind and learn from it. They understood more of the world than another nation, and so were more at peace with themselves than anyone else in the world.

The fighting style of the Air Nomads, all airbenders, was to circle the opponent and never get caught. You cannot strike what is not there. This style, practiced on the lowlands, required open space and a lot of room. It was the easiest to fight with, and the hardest to defend against. But it was this that led to their downfall: when the Fire Nation attacked, the only place to go was up. And soon there was no place to go at all.

This, perhaps, was foolish. The most deadly part of a hurricane is not the wind, but the water and debris it picks up and throws around. The Air Nomads would not have fought in the war, not offensively. There is a reason airbending does not have a finishing move.

And now? Their spirits are free, to travel the world on the winds and explore the Spirit World. They are not gone, and they will be reborn, much like the wind itself.

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All things in proportion and nothing in excess. What once was will come again, time without end. What does it matter that it is not now?


End file.
